• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Port Info

• Ships in Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• The Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Kolkata , May 6

SELF-REGULATION will soon serve as the cornerstone of IRDA's general insurance council if a proposal mooted by the council's executive committee is carried forward.

The move, which will help the insurance sector move towards a de-tariffed regime in the coming days, was taken up at a meeting of the executive committee in Kolkata on Friday.

Mr Mathew Verghese, Member (Non Life), IRDA, observed that a self-regulated outfit may well enable the industry provide better services to customers. The move, he added, may draw inspiration from a similar development on the life insurance front - the proposal to turn the life insurance council into an SRO (self-regulatory organisation).

He was talking to newspersons after addressing members of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The regulator is at any rate in favour of greater de-tariffing, provided it is done one step at a time, over a length of time marked by periods of stabilisation and correction.

Explaining that liability risk underwriting is not new in India, the IRDA member stated that the local industry had failed to cope with increased demand for insuring against such risks.

In fact, only a few companies have been able to meet the demand with support from overseas reinsurers.

"It is high time to build up past data, develop underwriting and claims handling skills as well as some capacity locally," he said, adding that Indian insurers cannot be mere fronting companies any longer.

Body injury, property damage and financial losses may well take new forms, complete with far-reaching effects. Yet, corporate risk and liability insurance has not caught up to the extent it should have. Added to this is the problem of white-collar crimes, professional liabilities arising out of errors and omissions, fiduciary liability and the like.

According to Mr Dalip Verma, MD, Tata AIG General Insurance, such issues are of even greater significance today, thanks to the emergence of MNC players. The need to remove controls is important, he mentioned.

Mr B. Chakraborti, CMD, National Insurance, felt that market forces should help determine prices, adding that liability awareness was quite low for some customers.

Mr Arun Agarwal, MD, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance, focused on the need to develop a consensus on products and practices.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Institute of Surveyors & Loss Assessors

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line